HAUNT: The Asylum/ Zombieland

RATING: 3 out 5

LOCATION: I'd say their old location at Boondocks was easier to find but this new spot obviously being a permanent indoor structure with way more room to grow is an upgrade.

PARKING/ LINES: Although free, basically there is no parking. Good luck finding a spot along the neighboring streets. We went on a cold Saturday night at about 10:30pm & the lines were long but not ridiculous. You will wait outside but there is a cart serving warm drinks. I was surprised to see that there was not staging areas decorated up to set the mood & no actors or pre-haunt entertainment to keep those in line from thinking about the wait or cold. We paid the extra $10 online for the VIP entrance on a Sat ($5 on weekdays) & it was worth every penny. We seriously had no wait & went straight in saving us about 20-30 minutes.

ATMOSPHERE/ SCENES: The 1st room was a great way to start things off. You can plainly see whats going on but it's the anticipation of whats actually going to happen that gets the juices flowing. Unfortunately it's all down hill from here. There wasn't anything really memorable for the remainder of Zombieland. If it wasn't for a Military actor stopping us at the end of Zombieland & "checking us for woulds or bites" then telling us we were heading into The Asylum, I'd have never known the difference between the two themes. There was a person in a wheel chair who did a nice job of using that prop & invading your personal space. One of my favorite scenes is the use of a slow strobe flash to allow a crazy girl to move about the room in a "now you see me & now you don't' fashion. I felt that we were just wandering a repetitious maze of people jumping out from behind corners or the dark. I was surprised at the lack of animatronics or technology in this haunt (considering the good use of it at their sister haunt 13th Floor). How about a crazy doctor or nurse at the Asylum doing un-proper experiments? What about setting the scene with simple gross out stuff like viles or body parts or torture rooms (think more Saw movie like) to get a better balance of startle, gross, & creepy scares.

ACTORS/ MAKEUP: There was little memorable beside a grandma zombie that had a great laugh. I often felt there was too much room & not enough props, scenes, or people. If it were a weeknight I might give them a pass on having less actors but this was prime time on a Saturday. With this clearly not being a high-tech haunt, it needs to be carried by the acting & costumes of the attractions actors. With Zombies & Insane people I expected some odd body movements or creepy lines but "no bueno". Mostly yelling & banging . How about some scary mumbling of the alphabet or silently sniffing your victim up & down?

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I'd visited the Asylum 2 years ago at it's Boondocks location & liked the theme. I felt that the scenes & acting was very good then but they were just too limited by being in a temporary tent. I guess I was hoping to see The Asylum take the next step now that it had moved into a permanent building. My wife enjoyed this haunt much more than I did. I certainly didn't feel it was worth the short 10-15 minutes were inside. Screamworks Entertainment does an outstanding job of marketing their haunted houses. (there's none better). They even own their own semi-haunted house review website Haunted Denver.com which is really a staple of marketing their own haunts & keeping their rating high & in prominent view (which also probably has a lot to do with why they wont let DHH review their haunt- they're too unbiased). Unfortunately with that hype leads to bigger expectations which The Asylum fell short.